Pre-trip Reflection

This is my first time to Shanghai I think this will surely be an intersting and completely new experience to me, I hope I can understand this place more in depth. From this trip to Shanghai, I would like to find out more about Shanghai in three different ways, economic, history and education and tried to compare it to Singapore, see what we can learn and improve from and see where Shanghai is lacking. And as Shanghai is a quite prosperous and successful city in China, I also understand that this city alone cannot represent the whole of China's condition as there are many parts of China still undiscovered by us, so I shall not see Shanghai as a whole China. I am from Chengdu, China, thus, I would like to see how Shanghai is different from Chengdu.
Also, I have some questions that I would like to find out, through research, I understand that their academic results are among the top so I am curious how their education system works, their way of teaching. Also, their cost of living and see how they cope with such a high cost.
I know that if I wanted to understand this city more in depth, I should find out more about its history as everything starts from there. The places we are visiting include: Zhujiajiao, shikumen, Shanghai world financial center and many more. These are the places that can represent Shanghai as it displayed Shanghai's past (zhujiajiao), present(Shanghai world financial center) and future(Shanghai urban planning exhibition hall). We are going to Shanghai's world financial center which is about the same height as the dongfangmeizhu beside it. I would like to enjoy the beautiful scenery in Shanghai and see Shanghai in 360 degree.
As a class, I hope we can be more united and bonded through this session as we are going to spend 7 days together. This surely will be a enriching experience for all.